DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Looking to bounce back from a tough loss on the road, the Embry-Riddle men's basketball team rallied in a big way on Saturday night in the ICI Center, routing fellow Sunshine State Conference foe Tampa, 102-86. The Eagles move to 12-6 (6-5 SSC) on the year, and improve to 9-2 in the comforts of home.
 
Much like he did the first time the two teams met in Tampa, senior Malcolm Whitlow paced the Gold & Blue offensively, this time tying a career-best mark with 30 points in the win. Whitlow, who played his high school ball in the Tampa area, finished 12-of-26 on the night, including a team-high six makes from deep. He added four assists to spur the Eagles to victory.
 
Michael McCalister, who has been enjoying a scoring spree of late, registered 19 points, just four off his season-high, adding six rebounds and three steals. Danny Sully exploded on the scene with a season-best 14 rebounds, adding 14 points for his seventh double-double on the year. Dru Nickson and Cameron Shockley-Okeke combined for 11 points, three assists and two steals in the win as well.
 
The Eagles used an impressive 64 points in the first half to put the Spartans on their heels from the outset, and shot a collective 52.8-percent from the field, including 40.6-percent from deep. ERAU's defense smothered UT, which shot just 40-percent from the floor. 
 
After McCalister opened up the game with a jumper early, Whitlow went on the attack, knocking down a pair of threes and a layup to put the Eagles up early, 10-6. Tampa received help from its star Tyson Leitao (16 points, 15 rebounds) and Bryan Williams (30 points) to keep up initially, even taking a 15-12 lead, but the Eagles held firm. McCalister knocked down a trey to tie it, then the home side went on a 8-0 run to create separation near halfway through the opening half. 
 
Tampa tied it again at 28 all with a Williams three, but Milan Skoric (nine points, one rebound) nixed the Spartans run with a deep three of his own. Senior Jon Alessandro (10 points, five rebounds) added two more triples at 7:16 and 5:35, while a driving layup at 5:08 gave the Eagles their first double-digit lead of the night as the route was on. Between Whitlow, Alessandro and McCalister, the Eagles quickly saw their lead jump to 15, at 50-35 with just under five minutes remaining in the half. The Spartans hit a couple of threes late, but Whitlow knocked home a fadeaway, buzzer-beating shot from the top of the key as time expired to give the Gold & Blue a halftime lead of 64-44.
 
ERAU's lead would not fall below 20 points until UT put together a 13-0 run in the middle of a four-minute scoring drought for the Eagles, but it was too little too late as the clock ticked past five minutes to go. Embry-Riddle ultimately held on to take the 102-86 victory, improving to nine wins at home this season.
 
Next up, the Eagles head down the Spacecoast for a trip to Florida Tech on Saturday Feb. 3, after a Wednesday off. 
 
 
 
 
 
The 2023-24 Embry-Riddle men's basketball season is presented by Daytona Kia.